Last week there was a lot of chatter about the configuration of Sun, Moon and planets triggering biblical prophecy. So, what was that all about?
The set up was Sun and Moon in the constellation Virgo, with the three planets Venus, Mars and Mercury in Leo.
This configuration was interpreted to be like the vision described in chapter 12, Book of Revelation, which begins: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars…” So the woman is Virgo, the Sun and Moon are obvious, and the positions of Venus, Mars and Mercury completed the crown of stars. The Revelation goes on to describe a great red dragon waiting to devour the woman’s child, and the great war that ensues between Michael and the dragon. Michael defeats the dragon and he is cast out of heaven, onto earth.
Now beneath the region of Virgo stars there is the great dragon serpent Hydra, and above Virgo, there is the starry crown, Corona Borealis ~ so it does seem that all the elements are there, but it’s a static picture that gets animated not because planets are moving through, but because human beings apply their imagination to it.
In ancient Egyptian renderings of Virgo, she is shown standing upright, and the four pillars of the heavens are female goddesses. Later on, the ancient Greek showed Virgo lying down, as though asleep or dead, with the pillars of heaven supported by the Titan Atlas, who is eventually turned to stone. So here in this one region of sky we begin to see evidence of the terrific change human beings have with their environment through time.
The Feast of the Archangel Michael is this Friday, September 29, placed in the calendar at this point as if to protect the maiden Virgo from the dragon as she sets over the horizon in the west, and to guard her should she awaken to reclaim her crown.